Closed Season Zander Quest PT50 – Cold Water Torture

Me “I’m not sure they are going to survive this one”

Wife “Why not, they have been fine before when you’ve cleaned it out”

Now keep this hush hush, but after siphoning off nearly two thirds of the water from our tropical aquarium and using the gravel vacuum to suck up the waste food I’d neglected for some time,

I decided to cut corners….

Rather than replace the water properly, I was….

out in to the garden, hose unravelled, Fluval Edge bound.

Trigger pressed, Severn Trent’s finest….

Now weirdly the smaller fish seemed ok but then the larger Gourami (I think) started to show signs of serious distress, not just one either, the entire group.

They had obviously suffered from shock from the influx of cold water, they like it at 25 degrees not the 7 or 8 I was subjected them to.

The usual sprightly fish went from upright to horizontal in matter of seconds a bit like a Saturday night binger leaving the boozer and breathing in fresh air

“Out the way My Dear !!!”

I filled the bucket I’d used to siphon off the water and it was out with the warm water.

What seemed like a lifetime, the bucket was full, again Fluval bound and I couldn’t get the warm water in quick enough.

It worked like a heart defibrillator, it was instant….

Water conditioner and biological enhancer added, crisis averted.

The Wife none the wiser, the fish out of danger.

Why Oh Why !!!! One of many

What it did show me though was how sensitive fish can be and the more I fish for Zander I can usually tell how the session will go. Particularly the clarity of the water which needs to be just right. The problem is with these morning session are the often it’s too clear, they just don’t want to know. I've also found that if it's murky AND cold, the chances of a decent Zander are much greater. Luckily even though the warmth of the sun is encouraging and invigorating during the day, it's still pretty nippy overnight.

So much so, I've been premature with some grass seed and got to go through the process again. Even had a frost at the start of the week.

This after work session was a quicky at the Tefal Head, a 8lb 10oz fish came from here and numerous other Zander in the past. I’d tried here recently though and it was like they had all but disappeared, the thing was it was clear though, very clear indeed.

So with the boats moving throughout the day I wanted to fish waters that were a little more turbid.

I've had a thought on my rigs too, I'm going to try a gob stopper on one rod with an additional stinger double ryder hook and then on the other small whole roach that I need to use up from the freezer.

A very slow session, three small fish were banked with 2 epic runs missed. The whole roach was getting the most interest however when the first boat when by and I had to retrieve both rods. The right hand rods bait was stuck in the bleeding cover, so for nearly an hour and a half I was fishing with only one rod.

For Danny's benefit, the third rod out for carp (I've got a 3 rod licence now) had the odd inquiry that was it, but then walking back to the car at the end of session I disturbed a carp that was in the margins.

Certainly encouraging though and when the water warms up they should be more active.

The Zander must have been laying up out the way and not that active either as they were covered in leaches.

As soon as the sun went down it went notably colder, the water is just that, it's still cold at the minute. Zander don't seem to have an issue but the Carp especially the big ones might not be interested.

On to the next one....